2025 U.S. News and World Report High School Rankings Released

–Written by an Educator in our District

U.S. News and World Reports has released their 2025 “Best High Schools in New Jersey” rankings. These rankings consist of both high schools in K-12 districts and admit-only schools.

According to U.S. News and World Reports, these rankings are based on various factors including standardized test scores to assess math, science, and English Language Arts proficiency on the “New Jersey Student Learning Assessment” state test (NJSLA); college readiness; underserved student performance; college curriculum breadth; and graduation rates.

These seven districts feature NJ21st’s traditional seven-district dashboard:

#12: Millburn High School; up seven places (19th place) from 2024

#28: Summit High School; up one place (29th place) from 2024

#37: Chatham High School; down 16 places (21st place) from 2024

#38: Westfield High School; up 2 places (40th place) from 2024

#58: Governor Livingston High School; up 32 places (90th place) from 2024

#60: New Providence High School; down 19 places (41st place) from 2024

#77: Madison High School; down 25 places (52nd place) from 2024

A total of 411 public high schools were ranked in New Jersey out of a total of 427 high schools currently operating in New Jersey.

As typical, Millburn is the top high school in New Jersey that admits all students. Meaning, the high schools in 1st through 11th place are admit-only schools including the “Academy for Information Technology” (9th place) and the “Academy for Allied Health Sciences” (10th place), both as part of the Union County Vocational-Technical School District. The “High Technology High School” as part of the Monmouth County Vocational School District is ranked 1st place in New Jersey.

Locally, after Millburn, we see Summit, Chatham, and Westfield all ranked within the Top 40. Throughout the remaining summary listed above, we see Governor Livingston, New Providence, and Madison placed drastically different from the prior year. Governor Livingston is up an impressive 32 spots. New Providence, for example, has fluctuated from being ranked 51st place in 2023 to 41st place in 2024 to 58th place in 2025. 

For a clearer picture, below is an average of the most recent three years (2023, 2024, and 2025 ranking each listed to the right of each high school) of high schools rankings of the seven districts found above: 

17th place average: Millburn High School (19th, 19th, 12th)

26th place average: Chatham High School (21st, 21st, 37th)

27th place average: Summit High School (23rd, 29th, 28th)

42nd place average: Westfield High School (49th, 40th, 38th)

51st place average: New Providence High School (51st, 41st, 60th)

56th place average: Madison High School (40th, 52nd, 77th)

76th place average: Governor Livingston High School (80th, 90th, 52nd)

From this analysis, Millburn should feel very good solidifying their first place ranking (of these districts and high schools from K-12 districts overall), while Westfield has been on a steady increase. Governor Livingston has accomplished much success in not only rising 32 places but also passing New Providence and Madison. Summit has been very steady while New Providence has fallen back a bit. Meanwhile, a concern arises for Chatham High School as they have fallen behind Summit High School. Madison High School’s ranking is the most concerning as Madison has suffered deep drops for the past two years.

Linked here is our 2023 article.

Linked here is our 2024 article.

Other neighboring high school 2025 rankings include Livingston (#20), Ridge/Bernards Township (#29), Somerset Hills/Bernards (#49), Cranford (#65), Bridgewater-Raritan (#72), Scotch Plains-Fanwood (#88), Watchung Hills (#109), Springfield/Jonathan Dayton (#111), Morristown (#134), and Clark/Arthur L. Johnson High School (#185).

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